I’ve been involved in sales for over 30 years, so let me tell you something straight: I have never sold a damn thing in my life.
What I did do was solve a lot of problems. And by solving problems, I picked up hundreds of clients along the way.
Problem solving in sales follows a simple process:
research → objection handling → asking for the money.
That’s the first truth. The second?
Most people approach sales all wrong. Time and time again I read posts from people excitedly stating how many DMs they send each day, whilst bragging about the size of their email list.
Sending unsolicited DMs is speculation.
To be clear, I’m not against outreach itself — I’m against the spray-and-pray approach.
I believe in precision. Research-driven sales calls are the difference between $30,000 a year and $100,000.
Yes, direct marketing shows results. If it didn’t, nobody would do it. The question is, are those results good enough?
Spam, Noise, and the Wrong Approach
Ten years ago, I spent some time helping businesses avoid online scams and business fraud. One of my first questions to small business owners was how many spam emails do you get each day. Nearly every time the answer was hundreds. Followed by a statement along the lines of, “This drives me crazy.”
In 2025, I imagine the problem is worse, as business owners are now bombarded with emails and direct messages. This is a noise that most business owners resent.
Sales is not about noise. Sales is about solving problems. Let me prove it with three stories that will teach you more than any $100-an-hour sales coach.
The No-to-Yes Loop
Back in the 1990s, I sold advertising in strategic publications aimed at public sector decision makers. It was a cutthroat world with a brutal rhythm. You’d get the job, sit through three days of training, and then you were on your own. Two weeks to bring in a deal or you were back on the street.
I made a fortune during that time by raiding the desk of the poor bastard who had just been let go.
What was I looking for? Warm leads? Easy deals? No. I was looking for the people who had said no.
Because here’s the job of a salesperson:
Turn the word “no” into the word “yes.”
It’s called objection handling. And very few salespeople possess this skill. That’s where the No-to-Yes Loop™ comes in: ask the right question, uncover the real objection, solve it, and close.
My afternoons went something like this:
“Hi, I’m the training manager at XYZ Publishing company. I am calling to review the conversation you had with Steve. I see you decided not to buy advertising. That’s fine. I’m just interested in Steve’s performance. Could you tell me a little bit about the phone call you had?”
Now, let’s be clear. Calling myself the “training manager” was a small white lie. This was the 1990s. Advertising sales was brutal, and if you didn’t survive, you were gone. I also did train team members on the side, so it wasn’t entirely untrue — but the real goal was to open the door. And it worked.
Then I would ask a few high‑leverage questions — about price, timing, risk, competition, and alternatives — a mini checklist that always opened up the real objection.
“Was Steve polite? Was he knowledgeable? What did you discuss? Then finally, I would thank them for their time, and casually ask: would you mind if I asked, what stopped you going ahead with Steve’s proposal?”
And there I had it. The real objection. The real reason poor Steve had not landed the deal. More often than not, it was an easy fix. Usually involving price, time, or effectiveness. Something I could easily overcome.
While poor Steve was job hunting, I was writing up another deal and continuing to sit at the top of the company’s performance chart.
The Direct Ask Framework
Another thing I quickly learned was this. Most salespeople are terrible at asking for money — and that’s exactly why I built a simple ask framework I call the Direct Ask Framework™: value confirmed → calendar/date proposed → order form sent.
I can’t tell you how many times I’d pick up a lead sheet with a handwritten red cross of frustration scribbled on it.
I would call the marketing director, and discover that if Steve (the guy who just got fired) had simply asked for the deal, he’d still have his job.
The marketing director would say something like, “Yeah, it looked really good, but it just didn’t go any further.”
My reply? “Well, if you want, I can send an order form over this afternoon and we can get the wheels moving.”
That was it. That was enough to turn “interest” into “deal.”
Why didn’t Steve ask for the money? Because asking for money isn’t human nature. Most people avoid it. But being a salesperson means going against human nature. The successful ones lean into that discomfort. That’s why I built the Direct Ask Framework™: confirm value → propose start → send order.
confirm value → propose start → send order.
The 20/20 Rule™: Research as a Sales Weapon
So what are the lessons? First: deals never really die — at least not if you’re talking to the decision maker and the objection is actually solvable.
A “dead deal” is just an objection that hasn’t been solved.
Sure, not every objection can be overcome, but then you have to ask: are you even talking to the correct person or pitching the right business?
My quick filters were always simple: is this the budget holder, do they have a problem I can solve, and is there a measurable upside if I solve it?
Bearing all of this in mind, here is an incredibly valuable lesson to learn: there is usually more than one decision maker.
When I sold advertising, I very rarely spoke to marketing managers. I quickly learned that a marketing manager usually had to pass everything up to the budget holder, the marketing director. And they were usually swamped by people like me trying to get some of their advertising budget.
My approach to selling advertising was simple: I don’t sell advertising. I sold access to qualified leads. The twist was editorial. I pushed advertorial placements that ended with questions. Those questions generated responses, and those responses became leads.
I devised a readership forum. It was paper based. After all it was the 1990s. My tick-a-box and comment readership forum was a crude but effective form of data analytics — and I was one of the few salespeople using it.
So, I would call the sales director, and talk to him about sourcing leads. Once I had buy-in from the sales director, I would let him deal with the marketing director.
Why? Well, the sales director has a target to meet, and he’s looking for every advantage he can get. Whilst the marketing director is incentivized to protect their budget and spend with suppliers they already know.
What I found was that buy-in from the sales director would often lead to a conversation with the CEO, which would result in the marketing director being told to spend money with me.
By completely avoiding the marketing department, I bypassed their ability to say no. Meaning that when the CEO told the marketing director to do a deal with me, there was no negativity in the air or bruised egos to deal with.
You can call this 3D chess, or you can call it what it actually is: good business practice.
Identify the problem, have the solutions. Present that solution to the right person.
I usually work to the 20/20 Rule™:
20 businesses researched deeply, 20 high-quality conversations — zero spray and pray.
Knowledge Is Power
With this in mind, my mornings would be spent researching, whilst my afternoons and evenings were spent talking to the people who mattered.
Whilst those around me were “giving the game away,” excitedly pitching to anyone who would listen, I would be sitting with my feet up reading everything I could about the businesses I would contact that afternoon.
My approach was simple: knowledge is power. The more I knew about you, the better prepared I was to take some of your marketing budget.
I started working this way back in the 1990s. Believe me, researching a business was not so easy at this time. These were the days before everything being online. In my old sales office we had one computer between 30 salespeople.
On my desk I had every trade magazine you could think of. I would spend hours combing industry magazines, learning who had won and who had lost deals. When the office was quiet, I would print out every completed public tender I could find. I wasn’t looking for the winners. I was looking for the losers. Why? Because the losing sales director was probably behind on their target, and I was going to save them.
Fast Forward: Problem Solving in the Age of AI
Now it’s 30 years later, and I’m still using the same techniques. Let me give you an example.
I recently developed an AI workflow for people who write blog posts. Most people open ChatGPT and type something like: “Act like an expert blogger and write me a blog post about blog posting.”
And what do they get? Generic garbage. Cheerleader tone. Robotic calls to action. Content that fails to connect with readers, tanks SEO, and has people clicking away in seconds.
So here’s what I do. I scour the internet for these AI-written blog posts. The ones that read like a talking toaster wrote them. These posts are the problem. And I’m about to solve it. That’s my research.
What do I do next? Do I excitedly blast out an email, or hit any employee of that business I can find with a DM? No.
I pick up the phone and act like an interested person. I find out who is responsible for signing off on the blog post I have just read.
Then I feel their pain.
Writing blogs is time-consuming.
Employing writers is complicated and expensive.
Their SEO must be taking a hit.
Then I offer to solve their problem, free of charge.
“Give me one AI-generated blog post that flopped — I only take on three of these free rewrites per week.” By the time you’ve finished your first meeting tomorrow morning, you’ll have a rewritten version in your inbox. For free, at no cost. If you like it, we’ll talk. If you don’t, you’ll never hear from me again.”
That’s not a pitch. That’s problem solving. I call it the Garbage-to-Gold Rewrite™ — and I only do three of them a week.
Sure, I could blast out DMs, build fancy landing pages, or write “perfect” cold emails. But that would just be speculation. And speculating is buying lotto tickets.
Instead, I research 20 businesses, find their failing content, and walk in with the solution already in my hand.
Because I’m not a salesperson. I’m a problem solver. And you should be too.
Closing Thoughts
If you’re in sales, stop thinking about selling. Start thinking about solving.
An objection is just a problem in disguise.
A dead lead is often just unfinished business.
Research is your most powerful sales weapon.
And asking for the money? That’s the step most people miss.
Whether you’re selling advertising in the 90s or AI workflows in 2025, the principle is the same: solve problems and you’ll never have to “sell” again.
So here’s my challenge to you: stop speculating, stop pitching, and start problem solving.
Work With Me
If this approach resonates with you and you’re ready to sharpen your sales process, let’s talk.
I don’t run funnels, and I’m not here to give you theory. What I offer is straight‑up consultancy built on three decades of problem solving.
Whether you need to tighten your objection handling, design a direct ask process, or cut through the noise with research‑driven strategy — I can help.
Book a short call, and let’s see where your sales process is leaking. No pressure, just clarity. I offer sales consultancy that actually solves problems.
Behind the Scenes
Would you believe this post was created using AI? Just three prompts, a handful of voice notes, and some human edits. If you’d like to learn how to harness AI this way, let’s talk.
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